I am a British born, living in Canada. Moved from the countryside in June 2014 to an "Active Adult Community" which is a whole new way of life.
My blog is about all aspects of my daily life.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Recap on February.......

Had a few goals to achieve in February and did okay on some but not on others.

The decluttering goals, I completed the first two no problem, but faltered on the second two and only did bits and bobs on those two. As soon as my cast is off I will complete the basement and the kitchen decluttering.

I posted seven ads on Kijiji and sold three of the items during the month of February for a total of $35. $10 went to pay for the table at the township Garage sale and the other $25 went into Molly's food jar. I am putting $15 a week in there for her food; so have $60 in there now.

I ended up increasing our mortgage by another $10 a week. Haven't had any paperwork from the bank yet to see how many weeks we have knocked off the life of the mortgage, will let you know when that comes. I don't think I will be increasing it any more, until dh finished paying CPP and EI in June then I may add that money to the mortgage.

I am starting the month of March off with $180 in my birthday pot, $220 in my Christmas pot, $200 in my "other" pot which should be labeled "firewood pot," as that is what I am saving up for now and $85 in my garden pot. The sealed jar pot is a lot heavier thanks to dh as he is putting his change in there regularly.

The "other pot," was dipped into this past month to pay for the wedding gift and to pay for our tickets for The Drawing For Art fund raiser that we go to each year.

As you can see by my figures on the side bar I went over my monthly $300 grocery budget, however I have stocked up on a number of things and have meals pre planned and made for the first week of March. I also boosted my Shopper's Drug Mart points balance and now have enough for one $250 mega redemption. My goal is to have enough points for two redemption's in December, so I am on track for that.

I cashed in enough Swagbucks during February for $25 worth of Amazon e-cards and my balance in my Amazon account is sitting at $70. It is the swagbucks tv that is getting me all the points, as well as the searches. My goal is for another $25 for March as well.

I also managed to save an extra $200 in our savings account, which was good, as we spend such a lot on renovation expenses. For the month of March, it will be just regular savings. We will be filing our taxes this weekend and are both in for refunds, so that will come in handy for projects we want to do this year. I think mine is all of $200, if that!!!! However it's better than owing money to my mind.

Grocery shopping, I am hoping to keep that to the usual $75 a week. Continue putting money in my pots on a weekly basis. We don't have anything big happening this month, that I am aware of, so everything should just be usual monthly expenses. It will probably cost us $400 to fill up the oil tank again for the heating oil. Hoping it will warm up a little though by mid month so I am able to go a bit longer without having to fill up the tank. I should say that it costs $400 to fill up half of the tank as I only let it go half way down before filling it.

I notice gas prices are starting to rise, so need to get my gas tanks filled up for the start of grass cutting season and filling them this week while I can't drive my car might be a good thing as I don't need to put gas in my car.

I may re-advertise the four things on Kijiji again, as you never know they might sell, will also see if I have anything else worth posting on there.

We have put our search for a second dog on hold for a few weeks until my hand is stronger. We had applied for a Basset Hound called Maude, but someone else got her, she was a puppy mill dog. Plus I need to save up around $400 for that, which I haven't done yet.

So that's basically it for me on what happened during February and what I have planned for March.

9 comments:

organized? for March? apparently not...my sealed pot challenge is going well...everything else not so much! I think it's a mini rebellion on my part...when I was married to the ex I had to be organized and frugal or there'd have never been any money or cleanliness. Don and I both liked organization and when I cared for him it was a blessing! Now I feel scattered but have no real desire to do anything about it ;-) I admire your commitment so much!

Organized? maybe not as much as you, however, on a weekly basis putting $'s I save on my grocery bill into my sealed pot. Groceries will be lower again for March, still living out of my freezer. Increased my car payment by $48.00 per month to get it paid off earlier and also taking the last three digits of my chequeing accout balance and putting towards my S. Africa trip.Had a hiccup in my financial situation last week, my dryer quit, it was so old I cannot remember when we bought it, had to purchase a new one.Hope you hand is feeling better today.Patricia

Organized? maybe not as much as you, however, on a weekly basis putting $'s I save on my grocery bill into my sealed pot. Groceries will be lower again for March, still living out of my freezer. Increased my car payment by $48.00 per month to get it paid off earlier and also taking the last three digits of my chequeing accout balance and putting towards my S. Africa trip.Had a hiccup in my financial situation last week, my dryer quit, it was so old I cannot remember when we bought it, had to purchase a new one.Hope you hand is feeling better today.Patricia